Acts 3
14 You rejected Jesus, who was holy and good. You asked for a murderer to be set free, 15 and you killed the one who leads people to life. But God raised him from death, and all of us can tell you what he has done. 16 You see this man, and you know him. He put his faith in the name of Jesus and was made strong. Faith in Jesus made this man completely well while everyone was watching.
Richard: Do not reject Jesus at His Second Coming.
Lamentations 1
Don’t let their evil deeds
escape your sight.
Punish them as much
as you have punished me
because of my sins.
I never stop groaning—
I’ve lost all hope!
The Heart of Heaven in Relation to Elijah
Sun Myung Moon
March 15, 1959
19 Ahab told his wife Jezebel what Elijah had done and that he had killed the prophets. 2 She sent a message to Elijah: “You killed my prophets. Now I’m going to kill you! I pray that the gods will punish me even more severely if I don’t do it by this time tomorrow.”
3 Elijah was afraid when he got her message, and he ran to the town of Beersheba in Judah. He left his servant there, 4 then walked another whole day into the desert. Finally, he came to a large bush and sat down in its shade. He begged the Lord, “I’ve had enough. Just let me die! I’m no better off than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down in the shade and fell asleep.
Suddenly an angel woke him up and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 Elijah looked around, and by his head was a jar of water and some baked bread. He sat up, ate and drank, then lay down and went back to sleep.
7 Soon the Lord’s angel woke him again and said, “Get up and eat, or else you’ll get too tired to travel.” 8 So Elijah sat up and ate and drank.
The food and water made him strong enough to walk forty more days. At last, he reached Mount Sinai,[a] the mountain of God, 9 and he spent the night there in a cave.
While Elijah was on Mount Sinai, the Lord asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”
10 He answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I’ve always done my best to obey you. But your people have broken their solemn promise to you. They have torn down your altars and killed all your prophets, except me. And now they are even trying to kill me!”
11 “Go out and stand on the mountain,” the Lord replied. “I want you to see me when I pass by.”
All at once, a strong wind shook the mountain and shattered the rocks. But the Lord was not in the wind. Next, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 Then there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
Finally, there was a gentle breeze,[b] 13 and when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his coat. He went out and stood at the entrance to the cave.
The Lord[c] asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”
14 Elijah answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I’ve always done my best to obey you. But your people have broken their solemn promise to you. They have torn down your altars and killed all your prophets, except me. And now they are even trying to kill me!”
15 The Lord said:
Elijah, you can go back to the desert near Damascus. And when you get there, appoint[d] Hazael to be king of Syria. 16 Then appoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat[e] to take your place as my prophet.
17 Hazael will start killing the people who worship Baal. Jehu will kill those who escape from Hazael, and Elisha will kill those who escape from Jehu.
18 But seven thousand Israelites have refused to worship Baal, and they will live.
19 Elijah left and found Elisha plowing a field with a pair of oxen. There were eleven other men in front of him, and each one was also plowing with a pair of oxen. Elijah went over and put his own coat on Elisha.[f]
20 Elisha stopped plowing and ran after him. “Let me kiss my parents good-by, then I’ll go with you,” he said.
“You can go,” Elijah said. “But remember what I’ve done for you.”
21 Elisha left and took his oxen with him. He killed them and boiled them over a fire he had made with the wood from his plow. He gave the meat to the people who were with him, and they ate it. Then he left with Elijah and became his assistant.
Prayer
Upon this day You have given, we have gathered before Your dignified presence on our knees, concerned about our insufficiency. Please allow us to fathom our hearts now to see where they are. We are aware that Your course in pioneering the path of life was one of utmost austerity and consecration.
Father, please look with compassion at Your sons and daughters gathered here. I sincerely wish and desire that You will please manifest Your dignified presence. By our setting up the standard of victory You have granted, acknowledge us as the sacred throng, and come visit us.
The remaining course of the providence is one of sorrow. We are aware that the responsibility to hold this sorrow in check is upon our shoulders. We also know that he who cannot feel Heaven’s limitless sorrow will not be able to assume responsibility for it. Since we are aware that we cannot help assuming the responsibility for the sorrowful heart that remains in Heaven and for Heaven’s battles, please allow us to know how.
We know that we have to feel and experience greater sorrow than anyone to be equal to this task, and that we must not become stragglers even if we are placed in a position of more chagrin than anyone else on the battleground.
Father, I pray from the bottom of my heart that You will allow us to be concerned whether our bodies can be the sacrifice of victory offered before Heaven.
Although two thousand years of history have passed since Jesus came and left, the true altar of victory that Jesus built at the top of Mt. Calgary, where he cried together with Heaven, has not yet appeared on this earth. We know that the time has come when Heaven cannot help moving, human beings on this earth cannot help moving, and the summit of worldwide Golgotha must appear, where Heaven and earth meet. This is the time when Gethsemane must appear. There will have to be numerous believers who assume responsibility. However, we know in reality that there is no throng of people in whom Heaven can seek and rejoice. Therefore, the sons and daughters who feel concern about the Father’s heart will have to wail more and more as they look upon this earth.
Father! Please allow us to know that the greater the ardent mind of the Father as He eagerly looks forward to the day of hope, the greater is His heart of longing for the person to appear on the earth who can render devoted service to Him.
Please allow us to assume all historical grief by becoming sons and daughters who can be held in the Father’s hands and raised in the Father’s bosom by offering all our minds and bodies.
We know that this must be the hour when our minds and bodies are resurrected anew through the miracles the Father personally works. Please forgive us for not having fulfilled the responsibility You entrusted to us in the past week. Forgive us for not having rendered devoted service to You. Please forgive us for not having led a tear-stained life, holding onto Your heart. Forgive us for having forgotten that You never gave a thought to Your own toil as You sought each one of us.
Father, I ardently pray from the depth of my heart that You will allow us to be Your newly resolved and determined sons and daughters in this hour, each conscious of his or her insufficiencies in the past. Let us be able to step forth upholding the minds within us which are centered on the Father’s heart.
Father, since this is a holy day, please look with compassion upon the thirty million Korean people who are in such a pitiful situation. Father, I sincerely wish and desire that You will please be their Friend, their Leader, and the Master who revives their lives.
Please be the center of their hope. Father, I pray from the bottom of my heart that You will please not allow this throng, this race, and this religious order to move without the Father.
I ardently wish and desire that You will bestow the blessing that You were to grant in this hour. Please allow Your sons and daughters who assumed the responsibility for the day of victory to be able to fulfill the mission. We are aware that this nation has the responsibility to reveal the Father’s glory by realizing this will. Since we know that there will be endless ordeals in the process of carrying that responsibility out, Father, I pray from the bottom of my heart that You will allow us to be the sons and daughters who can step forth in Your place, meeting our responsibility even in the course of ordeals.
Please bestow blessings upon humanity, which is ignorant of this will. At this time, when the wave of life and death sweeps along, please allow many throngs of people to emerge who are capable of taking hold of the Father and becoming His sons and daughters.
Father, I sincerely wish and desire that You will allow many sons and daughters to come forth before the Father, sons and daughters who can meet the collective responsibility of helping humanity evade the lash of judgment.
If there are people who do not know about this mission, about this time and responsibility, please warn them through us. Father, I sincerely wish and desire that You will allow them to become Your sons and daughters who can fulfill the responsibility and mission of the last days.
Please bless this day. Please extend Your hands of indiscriminate grace over the scattered people who are appealing to You, embracing the lonely hearts. Father, I sincerely wish and desire that You will grab hold of them so that they do not fall away in the middle of the fight and so that they can establish the day of victory You have granted.
Father, please govern us in person during this hour, from the beginning to the end. Do not let the influence of darkness be activated. I pray this from the bottom of my heart.
Since we offer everything to You, please take charge and have dominion. I pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.